Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
Fun with Chemistry!
OK, as noted in another thread, I like things that go boom, things that burn, all that 'rapid oxidization' stuff. Now, remember from your high school chemistry class that fun demonstration (do they still do this these days?) of what happens when you drop a piece of metallic sodium into water? Well, how about dropping 20,000 pounds of the stuff into a lake?
As someone mentioned in the MeFi thread where I came across this, it brings to mind the delightful segment from Brainiac where they played with small amounts of rubidium and cesium. Good times, good times...
Jim Downey
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I think I remember seeing a
I think I remember seeing a demonstration like that in high school, but then again, that was just before Columbine and 9/11 and all those other things that made high school what it is now. I would be very surprised if the high school I went to did this anymore, especially with how hard it is to get chemicals for classrooms now. A month or so back, the first episode of Wired on PBS (I think it was this show) had a segment on the decline of home chemistry sets, partly because of the fear of making something bad (which they did have a point, the old sets could make some pretty nasty stuff) and partly because it's hard to ship that stuff now. They visited a guy who sells chemistry materials out of his home. He's mostly got clients who teach science classes. He told a story about when the FBI raided his house and arrested him because he was shipping dangerous materials cross state. Ugh.
it was delightful...
...too bad it wasn't exactly real.
which is unfortunate. because they were headed in the right direction. blowing shit up is pretty great.
Well, that's depressing...
*sigh*
And people ask why I don't bother watching television any more...
...but thanks for the heads-up.
Jim Downey
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Like Science Fiction? Read my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
no problemo.
i actually caught the scent whilst watching your linked brainiac clip. in the "related" er whatever, there was another alkali/water reaction vid. claiming it was "real!" so i saw some of the comments of people bickering over this, that, and the other thing... which lead to a little web research.
it's too bad they faked it. because the reaction isn't really that far from being that violent, if that other clip is to be believed.
guess they just had to add a bit more oomph...
What? My high school?
Of course they don't give you anything that could be used to make explosions, especially in water. I mean what would happen if someone got a hold of something like that, smuggled it into the bathrooms and dropped it into the toilet? Aside from the rapid vacating of said room by all the smokers that is. Well it would probably be the kind of fun that would get you suspended and I guess ruin school property (how big a reaction are we talking anyway?), in other words the perfect thing for a senior prank (although the duck in the principal's office wasn't bad, it's a lot more original than pizzaing the principal's car). Actually come to think of it shenanigans like that are probably why high schools don't do that anymore. You had to practically pry silver nitrate (pretty harmless, aside from the toilet-seat shaped dark patches on certain peoples' butts) out of the teacher's hands.
"If there is evil in this world, it lurks within the hearts of men" ~Edward D. Morrison, Tales of Phantasia
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